The boys’ basketball team’s 2015-16 season is well underway, and they started the season very well with victories over Manville and Barack Obama Charter. Led by senior shooting guard Michael Isselin, senior small forward Zach Walljasper and senior center Jake Cawley, the team won three of their first four games before losing their next three in a row to Voorhees, Somerville and Warren Hills. Through the team’s first seven games, Isselin led the team in scoring, averaging 11.5 points per game, and Walljasper averaged just under nine points per game.
“I shoot the rock and I shoot it well,” senior Michael Isselin said in an interview. “I’m not afraid to shoot when there is a [defender] in my face.”
On January 14, the team lost a close away game to Delaware Valley by a score of 37-34. Isselin led the team in scoring with 12 points in a very defensive game in which Bernards held Delaware Valley to just four points in the first quarter. The team followed up that effort with a big ten-point win over South Hunterdon. Once again, Isselin led all scorers with 18 points, and Walljasper scored twelve points. Additionally, Jake Cawley and juniors Stephen Gribben and Dan Ball all added four points in the winning effort.
After the victory over South Hunterdon, the team lost to Bound Brook by seven points on January 19, but the team played very well in the losing effort. Walljasper led the team with 17 points, and Isselin added 13. “We could’ve boxed out better on defense,” Isselin said. “We also could’ve made more free throws to help us win.” Additionally, senior small forward Zach Walljasper said “some costly turnovers down the stretch” were a reason that the team’s great effort wasn’t rewarded with a win.
Due to the major winter storm on the weekend of January 22, the team’s games on January 23 and 26 against Rutherford and Voorhees were both postponed to later dates. Since Bernardsville got hit with 30 inches of snow, the entire Somerset Hills School District was closed on January 25 and 26.
In their first game after the break, the team defeated Warren Hills at home in an intense and close matchup. The team was held to just nine points in the first half and was down by ten points at the break, but the team rallied and eventually tied the game with around five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Isselin led the team in scoring with 16 points, including several timely three-point field goals in the second half. Walljasper additionally added eight points and played some very solid defense.
“At halftime, we adjusted by going to all four corners of the floor and spreading the floor more,” Isselin said. “We also let Zach [Walljasper] take the ball up the court.”
Early in the first quarter, senior Jake Cawley got into foul trouble, and this foul trouble forced Jake to sit out for most of the first half. His re-entry into the game in the third quarter seemed to spark the team and change the momentum of the game.
“It helped a lot because he knows how to guard the big man,” Isselin said. “He boxed out very well and finished strong on offense.”
At print, the team played their game against Bound Brook on February 9, and will be playing a game tonight, February 11, at home against Pingry.
